Schatz Claims Eighth Career NLRA Win

By Mike Spieker
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Grand Forks, N.D. (June 10, 2019) – The NLRA Late Models co-headlined Friday night’s program at River Cities Speedway with the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series.

Donny Schatz, who is no stranger to the NLRA Late Model series, kicked off the Late Model portion of his night by starting on the pole and dominating his heat.

Starting third on the grid for the 25-lap feature, Schatz charged into the lead on the opening lap. Schatz quickly pulled out to a five car length lead over opening night winner at River Cities, Joey Pederson.

Schatz continued to increase his lead throughout the race until he encountered lapped traffic in the closing laps. That allowed Pederson to erase Schatz’s advantage. Pederson looked to take the lead with under three to go, but Schatz’s experience in lapped traffic paid off.

Schatz was able to pull away from Pederson to collect his eighth NLRA Late Model win.

“Nobody was as surprised as me when we were that good on the bottom on the start. I knew I had to stay around the bottom until we got to lapped traffic or else somebody would have gotten by us,” said Schatz. “It was a fun race and I was glad to win it. It’s fun racing with those NLRA guys.”

RESULTS:
Feature (25 Laps): 1. 15-Donny Schatz, [3]; 2. 7P-Joey Pederson, [1]; 3. 4-Shane Edginton, [8]; 4. 11D-Pat Doar, [6]; 5. 4C-Ryan Corbett, [5]; 6. 12S-Brad Seng, [9]; 7. 86-Matthew Smith, [2]; 8. 2-Bill Mooney, [4]; 9. 71-Dustin Strand, [22]; 10. 10-Mike Balcaen, [10]; 11. T1-Tom Corcoran, [15]; 12. 70-Jesse Teunis, [11]; 13. 14-Brody Troftgruben, [12]; 14. 06-David Smith, [13]; 15. 29K-Ryan Kereluk, [7]; 16. 11-Troy Schill, [14]; 17. 11H-Shane Holden, [19]; 18. 1M-Nicholas Minske, [17]; 19. F9-Brandon Fuller, [16]; 20. 2*-Cole Babcock, [18]; 21. 9-Blake Anderson, [21]; 22. 345-Bryce Reimer, [20]

Heat 1 (10 Laps): 1. 86-Matthew Smith, [2]; 2. 4C-Ryan Corbett, [1]; 3. 4-Shane Edginton, [7]; 4. 10-Mike Balcaen, [3]; 5. 06-David Smith, [4]; 6. F9-Brandon Fuller, [5]; 7. 11H-Shane Holden, [6]; 8. 9-Blake Anderson, [8]

Heat 2 (10 Laps): 1. 15-Donny Schatz, [1]; 2. 2-Bill Mooney, [3]; 3. 29K-Ryan Kereluk, [4]; 4. 70-Jesse Teunis, [5]; 5. 11-Troy Schill, [2]; 6. 1M-Nicholas Minske, [7]; 7. (DNF) 71-Dustin Strand, [6]

​Heat 3 (10 Laps): 1. 7P-Joey Pederson, [1]; 2. 11D-Pat Doar, [7]; 3. 12S-Brad Seng, [5]; 4. 14-Brody Troftgruben, [6]; 5. T1-Tom Corcoran, [4]; 6. 2*-Cole Babcock, [2]; 7. 345-Bryce Reimer, [3]